


Entities, Shards, & Quirks (Oh My!)

by mildrice



Series: Throw every Shard at the wall [1]
Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow, Worm (Parahumans), Worm (web serial), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Complete, Crossover, Exposition, Fantasy, Gen, Nonbinary Character, Science Fiction, Spoilers, part of a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 21:10:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15397518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mildrice/pseuds/mildrice
Summary: Parahumans are super-powered humans. While once a minority, parahumans today are the majority, comprising about 80% of the population. As the number of humans with expressed powers (more colloquially referred to as quirks) increases, society too must adjust. What are quirks? How do they work? Where do they come from?Note: this fic is a HUGE spoiler for Worm.





	Entities, Shards, & Quirks (Oh My!)

 

.

.

.

_Everyone fears their own mortality_

_._

_._

_._

 

The Entities are two parts to one whole. The Thinker and the Warrior, the theological and the practical. Their purpose is one shared by all of their species, the common goal of continued existence, a way to spite the seemingly inevitable heat death of all universes. They collect knowledge from hosts, from simulations across planets in attempts to compile new ways of understanding, to put together a solution for the resetting of universes. No words are spoken in their journey, rather a series of meanings and intentions are spread across time and space, to and from their respective coiling helixes. Each cycle must be used to the fullest, both in the short-term and long-term, as each cycle brings the final ending of their species closer.

 

They have had this destination in mind for a while. Their helix spirals draw towards each other, manipulating space and time to come together. The Thinker finds arrival points for critical shards and pockets of worlds where hosts will congregate. The Warrior follows, ready to place their shards as directed. The preparations take time and focus, especially the precognitive and clairvoyant processes of the Thinker.

 

Another communication is received by the Thinker as it is trying to plan colonies. It is harder to understand, their language barely similar after countless cycles spent apart. The third entity is unlike the pair, immense and vast, powerful and singular. The Thinker is not prepared to handle this situation. They do not want to meet the third entity as their ancestors did, violent and crashing, shards exchanging, breaking, and falling. They could gain countless amounts of new information but they could also lose countless amounts of their just sorted information. The Thinker does not see this as the optimal path, does not think an exchange of information between them is worth the sacrifice. The Thinker sends the Warrior towards the Gehenna, knowing he will deal with the entity or otherwise follow through with the exchange instead.

 

 _Concern,_ the Warrior entity expresses.  
  
_Confident,_ she responds.

 

 _Agreement,_ returns the Warrior, changing its course to follow the new orders accordingly. The Thinker believes he will return, potentially damaged by the other entity, but still fixable by their own fusion of information.

 

The Thinker continues forward with the initial plan, knowing the Warrior will follow once he’s finished with the other entity. They are one and the same and they know what must occur. She starts to allow fragments of shards to fall to planet. She releases the lesser crystals first, expecting him to do the same. After all, they must maintain a certain amount of key crystals to remain as themselves as opposed to singular shards. Yet, when she _sees_ , both now and in the future, he is not by her side, not doing what he’s supposed to be doing. She does not understand. When she ceases _seeing_ and instead reaches out for him, she senses how the Warrior is unbecoming, how he is losing himself entirely to the other entity.

 

She expresses _Concern_ but he does not reply, no, he can not reply. He is lost now, his remnants left as hers to collect while the Gehenna continues its path of consumption past what once was a balanced pair. It is a strange sensation, this unexpected event. Yet, the simulation must continue now that it has begun. The Thinker collects the remaining core shards of what was the Warrior and engulfs them as her own. They are full of knowledge and experience gained in the last moments with the other entity.

 

It is illuminating. The Thinker will ensure this Cycle comes to pass, that it will regain what has been lost with the Warrior. It has gained new possibilities, not just conflict, but the power of imagination, philosophy, psychology, and more. It can see new patterns and create new ideas and tactics regarding hosts and the encroaching endpoint. She plots strategy as she scatters the remaining shards across the world, forming potential futures to view and study.

 

Baku is born eating the remains of her equal, hungry and ready to begin anew.

 

.

.

.

_To the victor go the spoils_

_._

_._

_._

 

The Thinker has always been more flexible than the Warrior. She can blend better, pretend better, adapt better. He is,  _was_ , the sword and shield to her mind and logic. Baku morphs herself into a new form, her countless limbs across many planes of existence coming together to resemble the host species. Based off of what she's  _seen,_ Baku makes herself resemble an attractive young female of the host species. This shall let other hosts underestimate her and allow for direct observation in the field. She decides she will watch over the Cycle presenting as various types of hosts, intervening only as absolutely necessary to better maximize data collection. As per usual, the entity must prevent mass emigration into space and the knowledge of her existence. In the past, the Thinker and Warrior also prevented the large-scale loss of life. However, with her future visions, Bakuhas  _seen_ how allowing the development of massively destructive weapons may make the hosts more interesting.

 

Baku can mimic the native hosts, carbon-based life-forms and all. She can reflect their emotions, interact with them, and manipulate them on both individual and global levels. She wants to understand everything, wants to put together all the pieces of the puzzle, and for once she’s seeing a possible vision of the future so fascinating that she’s eager to get started. Baku looks forward to taking back her powers and exterminating the host species. She’s never done it alone, always needing the Warrior’s strength to channel her focus. This time it will all be on her, the energy from every host world reality converging into one, totally obliterating the hosts on every plane of existence. Her collection of armored shards will then absorb this explosion of energy, riding the power through space to new destinations, her double-helix spirals manipulating gravity all the while.

 

For her own protection, the entity has made sure that no host will be able to use precognitive abilities against her. No gifted powers can cross the boundaries she has set across dimensions, nor can they affect other powers unless she wants them to. Unlike the Warrior, who could have prevented all powers from being able to affect him, she is relatively weak to physical damage. This physical flaw is instead circumvented with her own mental prowess, like the ability to connect alternate worlds and simulate events. In addition, the remnants of the Warrior and the other entity now reside in Baku, offering their own preventative measures against the host species. 

 

Time passes and Baku watches. Technological advances mean small agricultural villages grow to large industrial cities. Wars are fought over resources and alliances. The hosts create and destroy each other and their environments in ways that Baku could never have done herself. Nuclear warfare occurs for a brief blip in history, only to cease when all of the host species appear to see its terrifying effects. She sees her shards take a larger role, playing various conflicts off one another in pursuit of better, more powerful hosts. Baku is learning so much and the entity is perhaps glad? Gladdened? by the experiments of the hosts.

 

The hosts have come to call her shards _quirks_  as if the unseen crystals could simply be described as their own genetic mutations. Baku laughs, another expression she's learned from watching these carbon-based lifeforms. Their understanding of the world is so small yet they continue to search for answers. Is this what it means to be alive? The entity has spread her shards around the world as a way to stress test them. Baku wants to leverage the collective cognition of the host species to discover new ways to utilize her abilities. The entity knows her limitations - she already knows what shards are. She is an arrangement of non-discrete objects, her each and every shard an amalgamation of others, all connecting to create a different whole. Because she is the complex arrangement of her joined fragments, because the entity is essentially the sum of her parts, she has difficulty thinking outside of her own constraints. Her bequeathed shards link with the hosts, fusing the two separate aspects into one, or at least a semblance of one, to create new possibilities. 

 

Baku feels the Cycle as it progresses, preparing itself for apex and then eventual destruction. This time, the entity wants to learn in a more tangible way, so to speak. She forms a new host appearance that will last across several typical host lifetimes so she can nurture a future, shape it into something she can use best. After all, it is in the interest of all Entities in their defiance against extinction to succeed. To better enforce this new sense of active interaction, the entity settles in a small island country that sees itself as the origin of the rising sun. She finds the name poetic, though the collective reference to it by other host nations has less inspiration. Japan may not be ready for Baku but the entity has always been ready. She is the beginning and the end, the eater of worlds. Who wouldn't want to learn alongside her? She would be such an excellent  _sensei,_ yes?

 

.

.

.

_The ends justify the means_

_._

_._

_._

 

Entities have no gender. They simply are. It is strange how different organisms can be so insistent on binary roles. Even her own kind found the benefits of Warriors and Thinkers as opposed to just Warriors. This division of labor doesn’t mean that they can’t be interchanged as needed. After all, Baku is now as much Warrior as Thinker.

 

One for All is an experiment with Shard Transfer. Baku finds herself playing human for a lifetime, an older brother figure to a rather pathetic excuse of a brother. On his 20th birthday, Baku finally lets the potential within her brother release and he becomes the first of many to hold this powerful passenger. The shard is its own agent in a way, always seeking better candidates and manipulating events to get passed on. Her brother becomes a hero and more of a player, Baku’s shard resonating well within him, shifting him, making him expand and innovate in foreign ways. He’s a hero, a counterpart to her growing presence as All for One. As expected, he falls. Unexpectedly, he manages to find a protege before he expires. 

 

  
The shard and host relationship is complicated. Some passengers are specifically targeted to individuals who will cause conflict, while others find those who will prop up a collapsing host species if need be.  _ One for All  _ is a shard that seeks those more capable of standing against Baku, if only for a moment. Conflict drives the host to take bigger, bolder steps. This information and ingenuity help Baku learn and grow.  _ All for One  _ takes what  _ One for All  _ gives and this is just the beginning of what Baku, a single entity, can do. 

**Author's Note:**

> At one point in time, I considered having this single chapter split into three smaller chapters. After re-reading and considering, however, I decided to combine them into one.


End file.
